


Stranger Dates

by CeruleanHeart



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Banter, Canon Divergence, Coming Out, Confused Steve Harrington, Double Dating, Fake/Pretend Relationship, First Kiss, Flirting, Fluff, M/M, Post-Season/Series 03
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-07
Updated: 2019-07-07
Packaged: 2020-06-24 02:57:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,469
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19714867
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CeruleanHeart/pseuds/CeruleanHeart
Summary: Steve lets Robin convince him to play her fake boyfriend so she can go on a double date with Heather and her pretend-lover.But of course the universe is against Steve despite his good intention and the popular lifeguard brings no one else but her co-worker and his personal nemesis Billy Hargrove along. Steve sure as hell is in for an interesting evening. But why does he feel like there's something going on with this double date, that just seems to fly right over his head?





	Stranger Dates

“It’s not gonna be weird, I promise.” Robin had said. “Heather’s bringing a friend from work and you two can talk about guy stuff while we... Please do this for me? I’ll cover your shift next Saturday so you can go to that thing you had with your kids.”

“Technically, they’re not MY kids, but ok. I guess it’s a deal.” Steve had shrugged and agreed with a handshake. Even though he didn’t exactly know what he was getting himself into.

He still isn’t sure what exactly she needs him for. Because like, Robin and Heather are both girls he figures they could hang out as much as they wanted to without anyone getting suspicious because… that’s what girls do? They could even hold hands in public and everyone would naturally think they are being cute best friends who do sleepovers and braid each other’s hair and shit. Right?

Steve had always believed two girls dating would be easy. But apparently he’d been wrong about that. The whole lesbian thing is kinda new to him but Robin is his friend and he wants to support her. If that means he’ll have to go on a fake date with her including picking her up, shaking her dad’s hand and promising to take her home on time, then so be it.

He just hopes Heather’s fake date isn’t a total deadhead.

But the thing is, Steve hasn’t had much luck recently. With anything. His girlfriend left him which still kinda hurts, he didn’t get into college so his dad cut his allowance and he applied for a job at the new mall so last minute that he had to take the shittiest one still left. He’s wearing a sailor’s uniform 5 days a week. One that comes with shorts and a cute little hat, goddammit.

So really, he should have seen it coming, he shouldn’t be surprised at all to find out that Heather’s fake date, the “guy from work” is none other than the walking nightmare named Billy Hargrove. Because that’s what his life is like these days.

Still, here he is, gaping like an idiot as the two walk up to them, arms slung around each other’s shoulders as if they’ve been dating for months. They look good together too, like a couple from a glossy magazine, gorgeous faces, tanned skin and perfect bodies.

Heather peels herself off of Billy and flings her arms around Robin who squeezes her back, they sway and dance in their hug for a few seconds with excited giggles.

“I’m so glad you guys made it!” Robin grins and Steve is pretty sure he’s never seen her so happy, her smile is about 10.00 watt bright.

“I’m so glad it worked ouut!” Heather squeals and when the girls finally separate she turns to Steve and offers her hand “Hi, Steve! I’m so excited to finally meet you!”  
She’s so pretty and she seems so nice and Steve feels really bad about not being able to fully appreciate her presence but he feels betrayed by GOD and the universe about the fact that she brought Billy along as her fake date.

He can’t even take his eyes off of him while he shakes Heather’s hand with a distracted “Hi!” because Hargrove’s presence is that obnoxious.

Billy looks his usual raunchy self, dressed in too tight jeans and a shirt that’s open to display his sculpted chest and abs, except for one buttoned button somewhere in the greater navel area. The shirt is kinda tight around the biceps too, so there’s a good chance Billy couldn’t even close it if he wanted to. What a douchebag.

His hair looks a bit better today though, than the usual bird’s nest Steve has come to hate and dread whenever it pops up in the line at Schoops Ahoy, announcing another one of Billy’s visits to torture him at his workplace. He’s so fucking annoying. No one takes as much time to pick out a flavour as Hargrove and not even Erica asks for as many samples. And no one, absolutely no one eats their cone like they’re trying to perform fellatio on it, EXCEPT for Billy Hargrove.

Sometimes Steve wakes up sweat-drenched from nightmares about that tongue swirling around the top a scoop or following a molten trail down the side of a cone. Billy’s gonna give him PTSD at this point, Steve is pretty sure about that.

“Hey Harrington. Not in shorts today?” Billy says interrupting his thoughts and instead of greeting him like a normal person.

His face splits into a wicked, delighted grin as Steve visibly bristles at the remark. Billy loves to comment on his uniform, every damn time he sees him in it and now also when Steve doesn’t even wear it?

“Still haven’t learned how to button a shirt?” he snaps back and Billy actually has the audacity to laugh like this is something they do, friendly banter and movie dates, like they’re buddies. It pisses Steve off to no end.

“Oh, right. You already know each other!” Heather chimes in, slaps a hand on Billy’s shoulder.

“We do.” Steve says dryly finally able to pry his eyes off of Billy “How do you know each other?”

“We’re both lifeguards at the pool.”

Well, Steve can definitely see that, Billy in red short swim trunks showing off his body and flirting with every girl that walks by, eyes as blue as the pool and smile as bright as the sun. Disgusting. But at least that explains the perfect tan. It doesn’t explain however why a nice girl like Heather would ask an asshole like Billy for help with her fake double date and also not why Billy would go along with it. He didn’t strike Steve as the most open-minded person before.

“Guarding lives, huh? How nice.” he replies after an awkward pause and shoots Robin a look that says ‘did you know about this?’ but she just shrugs all ‘what’s the big deal?’-like, as if she doesn’t know that Steve and Billy are basically mortal enemies.

“That’s right, Harrington. Keeping an eye on all the _fishes_ in the sea.” Billy drawls and gives him a wink “You should come by some time, see us in action.”

“Yeah I bet you’re a real hero.” Steve rolls his eyes “But I’ve got a pool at home, so thanks I’m good.”

“Maybe Billy can come over and guard that one in his free time.” Robin grins and she and Heather start to giggle like they’ve just shared a private joke Steve doesn’t get.

“Wha…?” he starts perplexed but Heather interrupts him.

“It’s still a while until the movie starts. You guys wanna grab something to drink before that?” she suggests with a sweet smile and links arms with Robin, pulling her towards the escalator.

“How about Denn’s?” Steve hears Robin say, already a few steps away “I wanna try the Juice of the Week, it’s got dragon fruit and lychee.”

Steve can’t help but feel set-up because now he’s alone with Billy, who’s still wearing that signature shark’s smile that makes his skin prickle. At least as alone as anyone can be in Starcourt Mall. Which is still too alone for comfort, so Steve quickly jogs after the girls.

Billy catches up with them on the escalator.

“Can’t wait to get some juice, pretty boy?” he murmurs into his ear as he leans over his shoulder seemingly hell-bent to ruin all food groups for Steve via never-ending innuendo.

“It’s good for your health.” he replies without thinking just to shoot something back and immediately wants to bite his tongue off when Billy laughs so dirty the people going down on the other side of the escalator give Steve scandalized looks.

“I’m glad you two get along so well!” Robin bats her lashes at them and again Steve gets the feeling something is going on that’s completely beyond him.

“We’re going to have so much fun tonight.” Heather agrees and the two girls link arms again when they step off the escalator.

Denn’s is pretty packed but they manage to borrow a pair of chairs and squeeze around a table for two. Fresh juice shops like this are the newest trend of the whole health craze that’s been sweeping across the country so Steve isn’t really surprised that half of the other clients are wearing sweatbands and leggings. There’s an aerobic video playing on a screen by the bar.

Robin and Heather quickly agree to get two completely different drinks so they can share and Billy takes the craziest combo with all the exotic fruits Steve has never even heard of. His own choice strawberry-banana-blueberry is sort of lame in comparison. Steve kinda wants to be somewhere else but he’s doing this for Robin so he ignores Billy’s foot bumping against his under the table all the time and his snarky remarks about Steve’s choices, especially the banana. It's a good fruit, ok? Hargrove can go to hell.

The girls aren’t even half through their drinks when they excuse themselves to the bathroom and then just stay there for a while. They leave Steve and Billy behind in awkward silence which becomes even more awkward at least for Steve when he realizes the two probably snuck off to make out in a bathroom stall.

Steve is suddenly very interested in counting the strawberry seeds inside his drink, he tries to not be mad at Robin for getting him into this but it’s really hard. He feels irritation stir in his stomach when Billy clears his throat after a while and speaks.

“So I guess we’re supposed to talk about sports or whatever.”

“Oh yeah?” Steve grumbles, he's lost count at 57 seeds and it's Hargrove's fault that he has to start over again. “You wanna talk about sports? What type of sport? Basketball, maybe? Wanna talk about how you pushed me around the court for more than half a year?”

“Aw Stevie.” across from him Billy is leaning in, his elbows on the table, eyes bright and smile easy “Didn’t think you were one to hold a grudge just because I got a little rough on you.”

“I’m more holding a grudge because you got a little rough on my face that one time.” Steve replies with a frown, leaning back in response, crossing his elbows.

“Yeah? Maybe I should teach you how to fight dirty to make up for it then? Might come in handy one day.” Billy runs a finger through the sweat on his glass and flicks the water at Steve. It lands on his arm and he wipes it away with an overly dramatic gesture.

“No thanks. I’d prefer if you’d stay away from Scoops to make up for it, actually. You’re like my worst customer.”

“Aw but I love, ice cream. And you look so cute in your uniform, sailor boy.” Billy’s eyes twinkle with mirth.

Despite himself Steve feels a blush creeping up his neck.

“God, I hate you.” he mumbles and takes another sip from his drink, hopes it will cool him down before Billy notices anything.

“Then you shouldn’t have come on a date with me.” Billy just shrugs, almost empties half of his own dark red concoction with a single pull on his straw.

“I didn’t come on a date with you, shithead!” Steve scoffs, honestly a bit scandalized at the mere implication that he could be here with Billy fucking Hargrove on his own free will.

“You sure ‘bout that?” Billy grins, all shark again “Because you’re not on a date with Robin and I’m not on a date with Heather.”

Steve snorts.

“Right. That makes total sense.” he stirs his drink, the ice cubes swirls around in the glass clinking merrily. “Like you’d go on a date with a guy.”

“With you, pretty boy? Anytime.” Billy does that thing, where he pushes the tip of his tongue out between his teeth and gives him a little wink, that makes him look kinda cheeky and kinda cute and also makes Steve go kinda hot for a second, tinting his cheeks.

“So you don’t have a problem with any of this?” he says quickly, deflecting, nods at the two empty seats next to them that belong to Heather and Robin.

“I’m from California, Harrington. What do you think?”

“I don’t know, honestly.” Steve shrugs, he never really thought about what kind of guy Billy might be had always assumed there wasn’t much to figure out about him.

“Do you have a problem with it?”

“No, obviously not! Otherwise I wouldn’t be here, right?”

“See? Same. So why don’t you pull that stick out of your ass and relax, huh?” Billy settles into a more comfortable position, bumping their knees under the table “It’s just a movie, man. I’m not gonna bite you.”

And Billy might say stuff like that but he also runs his tongue across his teeth in an afterthought, which makes him look all hungry and dangerous, so Steve isn’t entirely convinced.

“Promise?” he asks giving him a doubtful squint.

“Cross my heart and hope to die.” Billy draws an x across his heart and rolls his eyes skywards dramatically.

Steve has to suppress a grin.

“Ok, alright. But no more comments about my uniform, got it? Like ever, and no more samples at Scoops!”

“No more samples from the Ocean of Flavor?!” Billy makes big eyes and clutches some imaginary pearls around his neck.

“Ok…” Steve sighs “But I’m limiting you to one sample per visit, got it?”

“Two samples.”

“One. Don’t push your luck.”

“Mmmmh.” Billy strokes his little mustache in consideration like this is actually something he has to think about but then says, with a little smirk that’s way too charming “ Deal.”

He stretches out his hand across the table and Steve takes it in a quick and firm shake.

“How cute! Making up?” Robin’s voice comes out of nowhere “Just in time. We got the tickets for the movie while you were talking.”

Heather grins next to her, holds up four tickets and fans herself with them, her dark curls fluttering in the little breeze.

Steve totally gets why Robin is all over her, she’s cheeky and cute and fun and pretty. He’s a tiny bit jealous because his date is a brute, even though he and Heather at least have the cheeky part and he good looks in common.

“Our treat, boys. Because we dragged you along.” she says with a wink.

First a truce with Billy Hargrove and now getting invited to the movies by girls? Steve feels a bit like the world has gone upside down again, this evening just keeps getting weirder and weirder but maybe it won’t be so bad after all.

**Author's Note:**

> I originally wrote this for Harringrove Week of Love back in February but then scrapped it because I have a tendency to stress myself out a lot.
> 
> But wow, parts of this were an oddly accurate prediction of Robin’s character! Who would’ve thought. Anyway in the light of s3 I’m bringing this fic back and plan to continue it. Next chapter coming soon! XD
> 
> Also forgive Steve about his dumb ideas of what same sex dating is like. It’s the 80s and he’s still learning, bless him.
> 
> Thanks for reading, hope you liked it. If you did, as always I’d be happy about a kudos or a comment! ♥
> 
> Also find me on tumblr @highon85


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